A Wife of Noble Character

Inspired by The House of Mirth, Puig’s debut repositions Wharton’s Gilded Age classic in modern-day Houston. There, orphaned Vivienne Cally, although the most beautiful of her set, is largely dependent on the generosity of her frenemies to maintain the appearance and lifestyle necessary to snag a wealthy husband. But Vivienne is now in her 30s, her friends are marrying off, and she’s starting to harbor doubts—prompted largely by her friendship with the idealistic architecture student Preston Duffin—about whether she even wants to continue participating in the kind of society that values conspicuous displays of wealth above substance. Narrated alternately from Vivienne and Preston’s points of view, the novel offers numerous insights into the process of arriving at adulthood, the realization that the choices made in one’s 30s have real consequences and may largely define the rest of one’s life. Fans of Wharton’s original will likely most appreciate the ways in which Puig updates her heroine’s inner conflicts to remain relevant in a present-day setting where college-educated women’s fates are (at least in theory) no longer bound to their marriage prospects. Others may find the social satire thin, frequently interrupted by lengthy debates about personal integrity as well as by so-called scandals that ultimately fail to scandalize. (Aug.)